Forgive The Forsaken
by onelight
Summary: They abandoned her, so she had to learn to survive alone. The world was infested with vampires and she learned to survive alone, she didn't need them. So, she wished they hadn't come back.
1. Chapter 1

They all had grown up together; she, Elena, Damon, and Stefan. One of Bonnie Bennett's first memories were of the day she and her father moved to a little town called Mystic Falls to live with her father's new wife and her children.

Rudy Hopkins had struggled to raise Bonnie from the moment his wife ran off with their savings shortly after Bonnie was born. He had suffered from depression because of the abandonment which led to excessive drinking, which led to him losing his job and Bonnie being taken away from him and put into the system.

When Rudy finally put his life back together and got the help he needed, Bonnie was three years old. Being removed from her kind foster parents, the only parents she had ever known, home and placed back with a man she didn't really know, did nothing good for the father and daughter relationship. Their relationship had been strained from the very first day she had been reunited with her father and she wouldn't stop crying and it didn't get any better for a long time. And when he married Elena's mother after dating online for a mere two months, it only got worse.

When she looked back on it now, she felt immense guilt over how she had behaved even though she had only been a child. Her father had tried, he had tried his best. He never left her, not even when 'they' did. They who were her best friends and were suppose to stick by her side forever, no matter what, as they had so childishly promised the first day of sixth grade.

She had been five years when she met Elena and honestly, she couldn't say she liked her. Elena was like a princess in Bonnie's young mind, she had a big, pretty house and pretty clothes. Elena had a family, a real family, not just a dad who listened to her. Elena had a mom and dad that even though they were divorced were still on speaking terms and had a good relationship. Elena had a cute little brother who followed her around and only didn't cry when she was around. Elena was called pretty by everyone, pretty and smart enough to skip kindergarten but didn't because her mother thought she should go through school normally. At the small wedding ceremony held after they had arrived all anyone could talk about was Elena. Miranda loved to gush and rave about Elena.

Bonnie didn't hate Elena because she was honestly sort of nice, a little self-involved, but nice. No, Bonnie didn't hate Elena back then but she didn't particularly like her either. The liking Elena part came later. Elena hadn't been her first friend, despite what everyone who knew them assumed, no, her first ever friend had been Damon Salvatore.

As she gazed down at him now, fifteen years after their very first meeting, she couldn't help but think his expression was nearly identical. Wide blue eyes, stretched wide with fear, pleading and hope, and lips parted slightly, allowing rushed air to escape his mouth as he panted.

She had found him in a hole that day as well.

Bonnie had been living with her new family for about two months when she got in an argument with her father over why she couldn't have ice cream when Elena could. Her father had said milk and anything made of milk makes her sick, and she knew that, but she still hated that Elena had something she did not once again. She had stormed out of the house that day, slamming the house door as she ran, vision blurred by a flow of tears.

She had ran into the woods surrounding the house blindly and almost fell into the same old well Damon had fallen into, and if it weren't for his shouts for help she would have.

She had stared down at his dirty face and wide eyes that day in shock. After all it wasn't every day you found a boy in a well.

 **Fifteen Years Ago**

"Are you going help or stare at me like a dummy, dummy?" He had yelled at her, blue eyes flashing with annoyance.

Bonnie had blinked hard and leaned forward a little to get a better look at the slightly older boy without falling into the hole herself.

"I'm not a dummy," she defended herself with a frown, "you're the one in a hole." He had actually looked embarrassed then. She noticed his lip was bleeding and slightly swelled. "You're bleeding," she gasped, forgetting all about him insulting her.

He touched his bleeding lip with a wince and shook his head. "I have a bigger problem than that, little girl. I'm in a hole, if you hadn't noticed."

Bonnie's frown deepened. "Did you hurt that when you fell in?" She also noticed he had a black eye. She opened her mouth to ask when she heard what sounded like a man shouting. "Over here!" She stood up and shouted.

"Shhh!" The boy had quickly said. "Shut up!"

Bonnie frowned and looked back down at the boy in confusion. "What? He could help you."

"That's my dad, stupid." He spat the words at her. "Go find someone else to help me, anyone else."

"But why do-"

"None of your business," he cut her off, "you're a nosy kid."

Bonnie scowled down at him and crossed her arms. "You're a kid too," she reminded with a huff, "and I'm not nosy." She bit her lip and shifted on her feet. "I was just wondering why you don't want me to get help from your dad."

He huffed loudly. "I said none of your business," he yelled at her.

Bonnie's face went blank. She had enough of people yelling at her that day. "Fine," she said dismissively and turned away, "find someone else to help you then." She had taken a couple of steps away when the boy called out to her.

"You really aren't going to leave me here are you?" His frightened tone was what made her pause. She hadn't really been going to leave him, just going to get her dad to help. "I don't want my dad's help because he's the one that punched me in the face and who I was running away from in the first place when I fell into this stupid hole." He sniffled and his voice grew weaker towards the end.

Bonnie eyes grew wide and she rushed back over to the hole. "Your daddy punched you?" She asked in disbelief. She couldn't comprehend it. Her father was always telling her to keep her hands to herself and never to hit anyone unless you absolutely had to."Why would he do that?" The boy didn't answer and merely stared up at her. "Your daddy is mean." She proclaimed and sucked in a low breath.

Damon's bottom lip had wobbled. "Yeah," he whispered so lowly she almost didn't hear him.

 **Now**

That day she had saved Damon and went on to become his friend and meet his brother Stefan and become friends with him. Then somehow Elena had become friends with Stefan than Damon, which resulted in her reluctantly at first, becoming friends with Elena.

Today, she wasn't so sure if she wanted to save Damon, who unlike last time he was in a hole, wasn't alone.

An unconscious Elena was being held by Stefan towards the back of the hole. A hole that was no a forgotten well, but a trap built to do exactly what it had, capture humans. It was exactly five hours until sundown; so five hours until whoever or rather whatever had dug the hole came back to claim their spoils.

Bonnie hand tightened around the strap of her rifle, while her other hand swung the line of squirrels she was carrying lazily. Her green eyes left Damon and floated up towards the naked, leafless trees above her.

She was surprised to see them. It had been three years since she had last seen them. Three years since they left her. They left her alone to fend for herself. No, she wasn't alone. She still had her father for a while.

" _I'm sorry, Bonnie."_

" _You have to understand, Bonbon, Elena needs us. She doesn't have anyone left."_

It was funny, because it seemed as if Elena had everyone, per usual, and she was the one alone. She had been alone for three years after her father. She survived all on her own.

" _Don't ever let those monsters get their dirty hands on you, feed off you, baby girl. You're strong. Stronger than your mother ever was and you're stronger than I could have ever dreamed of being. If anyone can survive this world, its you. You got this, baby girl, you got this."_

Bonnie was brought out of her vision of dirty, cold hands wiping tears from her eyes and her father's blood stained smile when her name was called again. She blinked hard, her eyes falling back to the hole. Her eyes lingered on the sweaty hair sticking to the side of Damon's dirty face, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Help us, please," Damon called out to her.

Bonnie cocked her head to the side, gaze flickering to Stefan. They always wanted something from her.

Something burned bright in her chest and her jaw clenched. Without a word Bonnie spun around on her heels and began the journey back to her home.

"Bonnie, please," She ignored the call for her and all of the others that followed.

When the trees thinned out and she made it to the clearing just before the hill sitting above her home, Bonnie's legs grew heavy and the back of her neck tingled. She ignored the feeling as well as the feeling that she was forgetting something.

As she slid down the soggy hill, her gaze landed on her home. The home she had found just outside of Mystic Falls. It wasn't much and had been abandoned long before the world as she knew it ended. It was a two story home made of brick and the windows were boarded up and littered with graffiti. The gutter that wrapped around the back of the home hung on just barely.

Bonnie stalked across the overgrown yard, bypassing the rusted jungle gym between two dead trees. Instead of heading towards the back door or around the house to the front, Bonnie came to a stop outside the basement door.

She studied the bloated wood and rusted lock and after a moment deemed it untouched. No one had visited her. She stuck the end of the string of squirrels between her teeth and wrestled with the old door until she got it open.

Down in her basement home, she lit a lantern she kept at the bottom of the stairs. She took it into one hand and moved deeper into the basement. Half of the space was cluttered with old things, some useful and some not; while the other half was where she lived.

She had a table and a cupboard on one side and a wooden stove someone had installed when the house was newer and a single cot.

She sat her lantern down on the table along with the squirrels. Her eyes went to the thick, black rope she had hanging on the back of the chair pushed underneath the table. She stared for a moment before removing the blade strapped to her hip and beginning to skin her dinner. She didn't cast the rope another glance.

She was standing over the wood stove, squirrel sizzling in a pan, when she suddenly slung the heavy pan across the wood stove in anger. She spun around sharply on her heels and stalked over to the rope and snatched it off the chair before blowing out the lantern and storming out of the basement.

Bonnie fumed as she stared up at the quickly setting sun. _Why couldn't she just forget them? Why couldn't she just have them get what was coming to them? Why couldn't she leave them._

Bonnie was livid with herself as she ran swiftly back to the hole, back to the people who left her. They hadn't given a damn about her when they left.

" _Dad said there is only room for one more person, I'm sorry, Bonnie."_

Bonnie slowed down in her sprint when the hole came into view. Bonnie quietly panted as she looked around before moving to a tree and beginning to tie the rope around it. Her cheeks burned from the chill in the air. Finishing, she wiped sweat from her brow before tossing the left over rope into the hole.

When nothing happened, Bonnie moved closer to the hole and stared down at the three still inside. Both men were crouched beside a still unconscious Elena, trying to wake her. Bonnie pressed her lips together tightly, of course they weren't going to leave without _Elena_.

"You have an hour until sundown, I suggest haste." Bonnie spoke, tone dry, empty.

"She's not waking up," Damon said, eye brows furrowed with worry and eyes wide with panic. He only showed such genuine emotion when Elena was involved, Bonnie decided upon studying the emotion on his face.

"Sounds like you should slap her," She suggested, a twitch moving her lips, "or leave her. Who knows how long it'll be until you guys can find shelter."

"Bonnie," Stefan's tinged with panic voice made her shoulders tense, "do you have anything that can help us get her out of the hole?"

"No," she answered bluntly. "A good slap should wake her up. It won't kill her."

The brothers frowned at her but Damon took her advice and slapped Elena firmly on the cheek, despite Stefan's protest. Elena blinked her eyes open and stared blurry eyed up at Stefan.

"Stefan?" Bonnie heard her whisper weakly.

"Day light is wasting away," Bonnie reminded. The brothers nodded before explaining things to Elena quickly.

Stefan was the first one up out of the hole, followed by Elena who had help from both Damon and Stefan; Damon was the last one out of the hole. The trio panted and the brothers held up Elena.

"Bonnie," Elena whispered blurry eyes landing on her, "you're okay." She truly sounded happy, much to Bonnie's annoyance. They stared at her openly, expectantly.

Bonnie moved to gather her rope, ignoring them for a couple of minutes. "You should find shelter." She told them, avoiding their gazes.

"You don't have a place?" Elena asked hesitantly. "We cou-"

"I didn't offer," Bonnie quickly cut her off, "and I'm not going to."

Elena looked surprised, while the brothers merely frowned deeply.

"We don't have a place to go." Damon said slowly.

Bonnie had figured that, so she said nothing.

"Without shelter, you would have saved us for nothing," Stefan said staring at her until she met his eyes. "Why go through all of that trouble for nothing." Ah, Stefan, always the voice of reason. The one who always managed to make her change her mind.

Bonnie shook her head and smiled humorlessly. "Follow me," she said and turned around.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's an update, check out my new Fic Toy Box.**

She hated having people in her space. She hadn't had anyone in her space really, since her father, she's been alone, she still hated it though.

Bonnie shoved another hunk of cooked squirrel flesh into her mouth and chewed in an unrefined manner, mouth open and loud smacking sounds as she stared Damon down.

The unclean trio sat near the stairs all huddled together like a group of sewer rats, eyeing her and her meal with hunger. The other two had the sense to look away every few seconds while Damon stared without shame.

Elena's stomach growled so loudly Bonnie heard it from her seat on the other side of the basement. Her once brown-haired friend and step-sister looked up at Stefan sheepishly and hugged her middle. The brothers both looked down at her, eyes filled with guilt.

Bonnie scoffed loudly, shoving more meat into her mouth. It was Stefan who looked up at her and stared unwavering this time. Bonnie waited.

"Bonnie," he began right one time, "could you spare a little of your food, for Elena?"

 _For Elena_ , she echoed in her mind bitterly. "What was my number one rule I made sure you leeches knew about before I allowed you down here?" She whispered harshly.

Stefan frowned at her. "No noise, bu-"

"No buts, shut up." She snapped. She be damned if she let them bring the bloodsuckers right to her with all of their whining. They stared at her.

She left a couple of strips of meat in the pan and stood up and moved to her cot. She settled down on the hard thing, it moaning underneath her weight and wrapped her thin brown blanket around her shoulders and ignored her unwanted guests.

 **FF**

She didn't really sleep, she never really sleeps. She's up with daylight outside and ready for her visitors to leave.

The pan was empty of the meat she had left in there the night before, as she had been expecting. She pushed down the satisfying thought that Elena finally had to eat _her_ leftovers. There was no time to be petty. Although she did wonder did the boys eat anything or sacrificed for Elena again.

Her eyes moved around the basement in search for her guests. Stefan and Elena were huddled together still next to the stairs, close together, sharing warmth. Someone was missing. Her gaze quickly moved around the rest of the room and quickly found him. Damon sat near the cluttered part of the basement, a dusty book in his hands, his blue eyes on her.

Slightly unnerved, Bonnie fought to gain her composure. "You can't even see that in the dark." She told him. The lantern was to low and to far away for him to be able to see.

He closed the book and leaned back against the broken, dusty cabinet behind him. His face was shadowed but his bright blue eyes glowed, a trick of light, the same one that he use to use when they were all children and had sleepovers in his father's wine cellar. The lantern light did something to his eyes, reflected oddly.

"I thought it was a know fact that I can see in the dark?" He said with a smug grin. "You're the one that deemed it so."

Bonnie scowled at him bringing up the shared childhood joke about his eyes. He had no right to.

"Pretty flashlights, you called them." He laughed deeply and hoarsely. He was probably in need of some water, but she didn't care.

"Shut up. When are you guys leaving?" She asked bluntly. "Better yet, how about now?"

"Wait," Damon said quickly, struggling to his feet. Bonnie looked away from his wide desperate eyes quickly. "Can you let them rest a little longer?" He asked softly. "Please, Bonnie. They've had a rough time."

Bonnie worked her jaw, annoyed. "What happened to that exclusive safe zone you guys left for?" She hadn't really meant to ask or insert the amount of bitterness she did into the statement.

Damon took a step towards her and she turned away from him, moving to her bag of protein bars and grabbed one. She tore off wrapper loudly.

"It wasn't what we thought," he said quietly, "about time we got there it had been overran by vampires. It was a Blood Camp."

Bonnie's eyebrows shot up in surprise and her eyes shot to Damon. He stared down at the ground, one of his hands wrapped around the back of his neck. "Its a good thing you didn't go." He said sincerely.

Bonnie's surprise morphed into anger. "Don't pretend to care now, Damon." She hissed, spiting mad. "Don't. Because when you left me it wasn't as if you knew you were walking into a damn Blood Camp and was saving me from a life of slavery. You left me for dead."

Damon's head flew back as if he had been hit, a look of pure denial on his face. "You still had your father. We knew you would be alright with him."

Bonnie laughed humorlessly. "Bullshit, tell me, Damon, do you see my father?" She spread her arms out wide, "do you see him?" Damon didn't not take his eyes off her as he stared her down, Bonnie didn't back down either.

"You're wrong, we didn't abandon you. I can't believe you would even think that."

"Damon, you left me. Your father gave you three tickets into paradise and you chose Elena because you've always been obsessed with her. Your brother's girlfriend and from the looks of things, that hasn't changed. Still being the flat third wheel, huh, Damon?"

Damon's blue eyes turned a glinting, silvery steel as he face twitched in anger. "What in the hell did you want me to do?"

"I wanted you to stay." She shouted.

"That's selfish, Bonnie" Damon told her lowly. "You wanted us to stay here in danger when we had a chance to find someplace safe?"

"Damn it, I wanted to be important enough to you for you to stay. I wanted you and Stefan and Elena to say, we can't go without Bonnie. We can't abandon her with her sick father to die." Bonnie turned away from, shaking with anger. "That fact of the matter is you guys left me. You were to blinded by wanting to get Elena to safety, you didn't give a damn about me."

"Damon," Stefan's panicked voice pulled both of their attentions.

Stefan still sat beside a seeming asleep Elena, but his hand was wide in horror and he was holding up a hand that even in the limited light of the basement they all could see was slick with blood.

Damon was across the room in seconds and bending beside his brother and Elena. "They're bleeding again," Stefan said in a rush as Damon pulled Elena up to lean against him while Stefan pressed down on her neck with his dirty sleeve.

Bonnie could only stare as the smell of blood filled the room. It took her awhile to remember that one of the day-walkers could smell it from miles away and come. She cursed sharply, stomping forward. She ignored how Damon slightly pulled Elena away from her.

"What's wrong?" She asked aggressively. "What happened?" They didn't answer her. "If you want my help you'll start talking now." She threatened.

"She was his favorite," Stefan finally said weakly. "He would tare into her, straight from the vein and then drain her, we had to get her out of there. The wound want stop bleeding."

Bonnie frowned in confusion. "What?"

"She told me he usually gives her his blood and that heals her." Damon mumbled, staring down at Elena helplessly. Blood was pooling around them now.

Bonnie chewed on her lip for a second before letting out a long breath. She moved to the box she had next to her cot and removed her bag full of medical supplies. She tossed it to Damon, it hitting the ground by his feet.

"I hope you know what to do with that. She needs stitches and there are some antibiotics in there too."

Damon shot her a grateful look. Bonnie merely spun around, turning her back to him.

"What am I doing?" She mumbled to herself under her breath.

Her father's last words to her filtered through her mind once again.

" _Don't allow them to turn you into a monster if you do nothing else, do you hear me, Bonnie? No matter what."_


	3. Chapter 3

They hovered over Elena like nervous mother hens over their roosts, checking her every couple of minutes, neither of them seemed able to take their worry filled eyes off her. Damon on one side and Stefan on the other, while the unconscious Elena shivered in the middle.

Bonnie tried not to watch from her place at her old, worn table. She tried not to feel what she was feeling, the bitter pain of watching Elena be cared for so devotedly and the unwanted worry she carried for Elena.

They didn't worry about her, so why should she worry about them? Besides, Elena had enough people worrying about her.

Bonnie stood, her side bumping into the table causing it to rattle, which drew both of the brother's attentions. She grabbed her long blade off the table and strapped it to her side.

"You have until weeks end to leave. She has until weeks end to get better because that's when I'm kicking you out." She was annoyed by Stefan's grateful and relived look and Damon's blank, studying gaze.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked her, standing from his crouch.

Bonnie didn't feel as if he deserved an answer, so she didn't bother. Instead she headed towards the door and climbed the worn, water damaged stairs and exited out into sunlight. She squinted then blinked, forcing her eyes to adjust to the new light. She climbed out of the basement and just before she could close the door, Damon poked his head out and his arm went out to hold the door open.

Bonnie huffed and glared at him. "What are you doing?" She hissed.

He ignored her question and climbed out fully, pulling the soggy, wood door from her hand and allowing it to fall shut. "Where are you going?" He asked again as she glared angrily at him.

Bonnie took a step back from him and her hand tightened around her knife, she gritted her teeth together. Damon simply stood there, waiting for her to respond, with limp hair and dark ringed eyes. In the light of day and without the blindness of anger, she noticed he was thinner than she remembered and tired looking.

He smirked at her for some reason, which successfully pissed her off. "I'm going out." She found herself answering his question heatedly. "Look for more supplies since I have a bunch of unwanted guests."

She watched as her attitude rolled off of him with a roll of his shoulders. "Great, I'll help you than."

She couldn't believe the nerve of him. He would help? She scoffed. "I work alone, you would only get in the way." She turned on her heels and began to march away. "Don't follow me, I don't need your help." Of course he didn't bother listening and fell into step behind her.

She ignored him. She ignored him as she moved swiftly into the woods and she ignored him when they reached the road, but she couldn't put her own worries behind her. "They aren't coming after you, right?" She asked as she rounded an abandoned car in the middle of the deserted street. The thought had been nagging her. "You said she was a favorite or something." Damon didn't answer her right away, which made her stop and spin around to face him. He stopped abruptly and met her eyes with his. "Fuck, they are chasing you, aren't they?" She cursed. Rage filled her and she found herself pushing Damon as hard as she could, causing him to stumble back a couple of steps. "How dare you?" She almost shouted. How dare they put her in danger by leading vampires right to her home?

She knew the vampires were possessive creatures, she had heard that some kept their favorite humans as little pets. She had heard a dozen stories about these escaped pets and their owners draining whole settlements and hideaways in search of their human.

"We've been running for a long time, they haven't found us yet." Damon finally said. "Maybe Elena wasn't as important to him as we thought."

Bonnie sneered. "Yeah, sure, its not as if every male that Elena comes in contact with becomes obsessed for whatever reason." She turned away from him and peered around the deserted road and line of trees around her, heart pounding. "They're probably on their way right now."

"I'm telling you, he's not coming." Damon said. Bonnie turned to face him again, she glared hard. "We took care of him."

Bonnie paused and cocked an eye brow, she studied Damon's serious, dirty face. "You killed a vampire?" She had killed a vampire before and it had almost been the end of her and it had just been one of those night ones, the day walkers were suppose to be 10x stronger. "A day walker?" Damon looked pale as he nodded once, rubbing his arm, fingers twitchy. She was impressed. She took in a breath and eyed Damon for a full minute. "Who is chasing you if the vampire is dead?"

Damon looked away from her. "You don't have to worry about it."

Bonnie's anger returned automatically. "I think it is considering they'll follow your trail straight to me."

He frowned, seeming to think. "We were being sold right before it all went down with the vampire obsessed with Elena, Stefan and me," he rubbed the back of his neck, "we ran away before than."

Bonnie cocked her head, not understanding fully. She knew vampires had blood farms to harvest human blood and that some vampires had their personal blood bags. It dawned on her a second later, the vampires were selling humans to one another. She wasn't surprised.

"So you were already sold and promised to a vampire before you split." She guessed. She studied his face for a moment, taking in his dirty black hair and attention grabbing blue eyes. "I'm guess you and Stefan were a special order for some vampire." Vampires liked pretty, and even she could admit Damon and Stefan were pretty, despite their current rugged appearances.

Damon shrugged obviously not wanting to talk about it. "Where are we going?"

Bonnie pressed her lips together, slightly annoyed. "A neighborhood about fifteen minutes away from here, the last time I checked it was pretty untouched." She had also checked and scooped it out for three days to make sure it was a trap made by some vampire.

"Sounds like a plan," he nodded.

Bonnie turned away from him. "Just don't cause me any more trouble than you've already been."

(B)

"I found alcohol, band-aids, tweezers, and four bottles of unopened water that had rolled underneath a spider infested cupboard." Damon said proudly as they met back up in the middle of the neighborhood, his spoils held in a dusty plastic bag.

Bonnie wondered was she suppose to be impressed. She raised an eyebrow. "No food?" She turned and began heading down the street. It was getting dark, so it was time to return home. Her own bag, and abandoned backpack, was home to various food items and half empty medicine bottles.

"The houses I checked were pretty much empty," he defended himself as he caught up to her.

"That's why you're only suppose to check the house where its obvious that the owners left in a hurry or didn't get to leave at all." She rolled her eyes. "There are very clear signs as soon as you open the door, that way you won't have to waste your time." She glanced at him, smirking at his frown. "First, people who left in a early or didn't exactly leave on their own free will wouldn't go through the trouble to lock their door. Second, a trail of clothing and other items throughout the house showing that the person was on the run." She shrugged. "Its obvious why we want to check the houses that the owners obviously didn't vacate on their own, but I check the ones that seem to look like the owners left in a hurry because of the likely hood that they forgot quite a few essentials."

"You're a regular survival specialist," he said in a tone that didn't give a hint as to if he was teasing her or not.

She turned her gaze back onto the road in front of them, feeling annoyed. "You have to be." she started walking faster, hoping she would be able to leave him behind.


End file.
